A total of around 110,000 square feet of office space could now be established at the Wellington Place site in the west end of the city, with a third of that office space expected to be Grade-A quality.
MEPC, the firm behind the plans and responsible for developing the entire 22-acre site, has welcomed the news but insisted that it will not be “developing speculatively”.
Leeds Council hopes its decision to grant planning permission for numbers three and ten Wellington Place will help boost construction activity across the city centre when economic conditions are more favourable.
Wellington Place’s managing director, Andrew Barlow, suggested that the plans demonstrate his organisation’s “commitment to the expansion of the site”.
“This decision has been made to enable us to ensure the continued success of Wellington Place and to be in a position to develop the two Grade-A office buildings when market conditions allow,” he added.
While plans for new developments in the city centre are on hold, there are still a number of Grade-A office rental opportunities in Leeds, including at numbers 2 and 7 Wellington Place.
MEPC’s portfolio is currently valued at more than £1 billion, and the company recently sold the Benson House building in Leeds to Lancashire County Pension Fund for a price of £20 million.
Editor’s notes: By 2023, the highly popular mixed-use scheme had grown to 12 commercial properties.
Tenants of the premium office buildings included law firm Irwin Mitchell, office space agent Savills, gambling company Betfair, the Ministry of Justice and flexible office space providers Regus and Cubo.
Announced in 2017 and opened in 2021, 7 & 8 Wellington Place made history as the biggest ever office pre-let in Leeds as it became a Torkshire Government hub.
The 378,000-square-foot building was fully let on a 25-year lease to HM Revenue and Customs.
Retail and leisure occupiers in the scheme included Mad Frans, Sainsbury’s and Veeno.
Seven of the buildings had some availability for Grade-A office space rental in Leeds city centre.
And Buildings 11 & 12 at Wellington Place were set to be the most energy-efficient office buildings in Leeds when completed in 2023.
The developers were targeting BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, EPC rating ‘A’ and an operational Net Zero Carbon rating. In April 2023, only 19,013 square feet of prime office space within the building, which offered over 250,000 square feet of commercial space, was available, following pre-let deals with Arup and Lloyds Banking Group.
In February 2026, it was announced that 11 & 12 Wellington Place were shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire 2026 awards.
The scheme was recognised for its strong environmental credentials, achieving BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, NABERS UK 5 Star ratings, EPC A, and Fitwel accreditation, supported by all-electric systems, air-source heat pumps, rooftop photovoltaics, and high-performance façades.
The winner was due to be announced in October 2026.